Does Career and Technical Education Strengthen the STEM Pipeline? Comparing Students With and Without Disabilities

Despite the strategic investment of the Perkins IV legislation to promote a broader application of career and technical education (CTE) to all students, it is unclear whether these initiatives distinctively support the needs of students with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study. This is a critical lapse in the research, as knowing the efficacy of CTE experiences in promoting the STEM pipeline will be important for policy makers as they consider new or revised educational policies to support the pursuit and persistence of students with disabilities into STEM fields. This study evaluates whether two CTE experiences (applied STEM course taking and school-based experiential programs) in high school differentially predict the declaration of STEM college majors for students with and without disabilities. Assessing nationally representative data, the analyses suggest that CTE experiences consisting of applied STEM courses and school-based experiential programs may both be sufficient to move through the STEM pipeline for students in the general population, but both are insufficient for supporting students with disabilities.